Political Semiotics of the Achaemenid Architecture

This article has tried to look at the political representation of mythical creatures in the Achaemenid architecture to find the semantic roots of them, in the art of ancient Iran and adjacent civilizations, by the method of Jakobson’s six communication functions. By researching their myths and beliefs, and looking at the motifs of their artifacts, we want to shine a flash on relationship between these cultures, and perusing the migration of these symbols. Roman Jakobson defined six functions of a communication act; Sender (with the emotive or affective function), Reciever (with the conative function), Context (with the referential function), Channel (with the phatic function), Code (with the reflexive function) and Message (with the poetic function). In this issue, sender is supposed to be Achaemenid court. Recievers are the political representatives of the Achaemenid states. Context is an intelligent combination of various cultures and religious credences of ancient east’s inhabitants. Channel is the art of stone carving, observed by the court. Code is a selective collection of prevalent mythical beliefs in the states of the kingdom. However, the most important function is the message: imperial art is transnational. We reviewed nine archetypal symbols in the Achaemenid architecture. First, a bas-relief in Pasargadae, most likely a resemblance of Cyrus himself, possessing four wings shown in an Assyrian style, dressed in Elamite traditional clothing, with the Egyptian Hemhem crown. A fish-man on the walls of palace “S” in Pasargadae may refer to an Apkallu, one of the seven Mesopotamian sages or demigods who are said to have been created by the god Enki. Beside that, we can find a Bull-Man, maybe Kusarikku, an ancient Mesopotamian mythological demon. Winged Bulls on the walls of Apadana palace in Susa are maybe symbols of Tishtar (god of rain) in his battle with Apush (demon of drouth), or just mighty protectors of the palace. Achaemenid winged globes are derived from an Egyptian origin, placed above the entrances to all the temples in order to commemorate the victory won by Horus over Set. This pattern turned to the symbol of god Assur in the Assyrian art. The battle between a king and a beast in the entrance of Tachara palace is presumably connected with a bas-relief from the Ninurta temple in Nimrud, that Ninurta with his thunderbolts pursues Anzu (Imdugud). Gopat (winged bull or lion with human face with a great emphasis in the Avestan literature) and Shirdal (eagle-head lion) have used in all the ancient eastern arts. Man, eagle, lion and bull each have their magical power and territory. When they combine, the result would be an unconquerable guardian for shrines. The mythical creature found on the walls of Tomb-e Ajori must be mušḫuššu, the sacred animal of Marduk and his son Nabu depicted on the Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon. Achaemenid diplomacy was based on political, cultural and religious tolerance; therefore, it’s not unexpected for their art to be combined and transnational.